Arizona has been playing top-notch defense, allowing 17 and 15 points. The offense, though, is working on plenty of new things, with a new playbook under first-year offensive coordinator Mike McCoy. In the opener they got a win with 24 points, but only had 118 yards passing and 56 rushing. The ground game averaged just 2.7 yards per carry as they rebuild the offensive line. Last week they had just 65 yards rushing (2.5 yards per carry), one TD pass against New Orleans. Arizona's offense is 5-of-25 on third down this August. The Cardinals lost longtime QB Carson Palmer so they are working in a bevy of new signal callers in Chad Kanoff, Mike Glennon, Sam Braford and rookie Josh Rosen. They face a Dallas offense that is averaging 17 points per game in preseason with all kinds of injury concerns. The health of two of their top offensive linemen is the focus, with Pro Bowl right guard Zack Martin (knee) and Pro Bowl center Travis Frederick both ailing. In addition, WRs Cole Beasley (groin), Tavon Austin (hamstring) and Deonte Thompson (Achilles) missed some practice this week as they deal with injuries. It showed in a loss to the Bengals last week, scoring 13 points while gaining 262 total yards. The defense is ahead of the offense, allowing just 6-of-21 on third down in two contests. These teams played a defensive game last preseason with 38 points scored and the offenses look worse this August. I like this one to finish UNDER.
This pick was released to clients on August 23, 2018 at 12:56PM ET.
NFL
Arizona at Dallas
August 26, 2018
8:00 PM Eastern
1.5 units on Game Total UNDER 40.5 -105 (risk 1.5 to return 2.93)
Result:
WIN
WIN
TAKE THE GUESSWORK OUT OF SPORTS BETTING
Get my free NFL picks and predictions.
Join 413,966 Subscribers!